Argument/Opinion Essay: Holistic Writing Rubric
Score 4: The response is a well-developed essay that develops and supports an argument.
• Effectively introduces a claim
• Uses logical, credible, and relevant reasoning and evidence to support claim
• Uses an organizational strategy to present reasons and relevant evidence
• Acknowledges and counters opposing claims, as appropriate
• Uses precise and purposeful word choice
• Uses words, phrases, and/or clauses that effectively connect and show relationships among ideas
• Uses and maintains an appropriate tone
• Provides a strong concluding statement or section that logically follows from the ideas presented
• Has no errors in usage and conventions that interfere with meaning
Score 3: The response is a complete essay that develops and supports an argument.
• Clearly introduces a claim
• Uses reasoning and evidence to support claim
• Uses an organizational structure to present reasons and relevant evidence
• Attempts to acknowledge and/or counter opposing claims, as appropriate
• Uses clear word choice
• Uses words and/or phrases to connect ideas
• Uses an appropriate tone
• Provides a concluding statement or section that follows from the ideas presented
• Has few, if any, errors in usage and conventions that interfere with meaning
Argument/Opinion Essay: Holistic Writing Rubric
Score:2: The response is an incomplete or oversimplified essay that develops and supports an
argument.
• Attempts to establish a claim
• Develops, sometimes unevenly, reasons and/or evidence to support claim
• Attempts to use an organizational structure
• Makes little, if any, attempt to acknowledge or counter opposing claims
• Uses simple language, which sometimes lacks clarity
• Provides a weak concluding statement or section
• May have errors in usage and conventions that interfere with meaning
Score 1: The response provides evidence of an attempt to write an essay that offers an
argument.
• Weakly states or alludes to a claim
• Has minimal support for claim
• May be too brief to demonstrate an organizational structure
• Makes no attempt to acknowledge or counter opposing claims
• Uses words that are inappropriate, overly simple, or unclear
• Provides a minimal or no concluding statement or section
• Has errors in usage and conventions that interfere with meaning
Score 0: The response is completely irrelevant or incorrect, or there is no response.
Informative/Explanatory Essay: Holistic Writing Rubric
Score 4: The response is a well-developed essay that examines a topic and presents related
information.
• Effectively introduces the topic to be examined
• Uses specific facts, details, definitions, examples, and/or other information to develop topic fully
• Uses an organizational strategy to present information effectively
• Uses precise and purposeful word choice
• Uses words, phrases, and/or clauses that effectively connect and show relationships among ideas
• Uses and maintains an appropriate tone
• Provides a strong concluding statement or section that logically follows from the ideas presented
• Has no errors in usage and conventions that interfere with meaning
Score 3: The response is a complete essay that examines a topic and presents information.
• Clearly introduces the topic to be examined
• Uses multiple pieces of relevant information to develop topic
• Uses an organizational structure to group information
• Uses clear word choice
• Uses words and/or phrases to connect ideas
• Uses an appropriate tone
• Provides a concluding statement or section that follows from the ideas presented
• Has few, if any, errors in usage and conventions that interfere with meaning
Informative/Explanatory Essay: Holistic Writing Rubric
Score 2: The response is an incomplete or oversimplified essay that examines a topic.
• Attempts to introduce a topic
• Develops topic, sometimes unevenly, with mostly relevant information
• Attempts to use an organizational structure
• Uses simple language, which sometimes lacks clarity
• Provides a weak concluding statement or section
• May have errors in usage and conventions that interfere with meaning
Score 1: The response provides evidence of an attempt to write an essay that examines a topic.
• May not introduce a topic, or topic must be inferred
• Provides minimal information to develop the topic
• May be too brief to demonstrate an organizational structure
• Uses words that are inappropriate, overly simple, or unclear
• Provides a minimal or no concluding statement or section
• Has errors in usage and conventions that interfere with meaning
Score 0: The response is completely irrelevant or incorrect, or there is no response.